Eye Discharges

Eye Discharges

This morning while having my morning coffee, I found myself digging into my eyes to remove the rheum.

Rheum (/ˈruːm /; from Greek: ῥεῦμα, rheuma , a flowing, rheum) is thin mucus naturally discharged as a watery substance from the eyes, nose or mouth during sleep (cf. mucopurulent discharge). ^[1][2][3] Rheum dries and gathers as a crust in the corners of the eyes or mouth, on the eyelids, or under the nose.^[3] It is formed by a combination of mucus (in the case of the eyes, consisting of mucin discharged from the corneaor conjunctiva ), nasal mucus, blood cells, skin cells , or dust. Rheum from the eyes is particularly common. Dried rheum is in common usage called sleep, sleepers, sleeping sand, crusty, eye gunk, sleepydust, sleepy boogers, eye discharge, eye goop, eye crud, eye jelly, eye crust, eye bogeys, eye boogers, eye-sand, cockapia, optical crustaceans, blinker smudge, sleepy dirt, sleepy seeds, bug dust, eye poo, gubbas, poopies etc.^[2][3] (An obsolete and UK dialectal term is gound.^[4])

When the individual is awake, blinking of the eyelid causes rheum to be washed away with tears via the nasolacrimal duct. The absence of this action during sleep, however, results in a small amount of dry rheum accumulating in corners of the eye, most notably in children.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheum]

Here, in my dining room, gazing out the window at the trees in the yard, sipping a delicious cup of Arabica coffee, rubbing at the crust of my eye sand, I was living the life. I had my rheum with a view. Location, location, location.

A memory from my early childhood flickered upon the surface of my consciousness; it was my mother rubbing the tips of her thumb and forefingers together over my eyes, telling me she was sprinkling magic sleepy pixie dust so that I would fall asleep. Affirmations do work! When I awoke the sand in my eyes was proof that the sleepy dust she had used was real.

At some time or another, almost every dog has a bit of material collect in the corner of the eye. When this happens, it’s not considered a discharge so much as a normal response to the day-to-day foreign matter a dog is exposed to. When a dog leads a healthy, active life, she is bound to get dust and debris in her eyes on occasion, and tearing is an expected, appropriate means of clearing that material, flushing the eye in the process. Once that accumulated material is cleared, the healthy eye will return to its normal appearance.

But if the accumulated material recurs repeatedly, the collected material is yellowish to green, and/or the surrounding tissues are red and irritated, your dog needs further attention and action. [http://www.medicinenet.com/pets/dog-health/dog_has_discharge_from_eye.htm]

Discharges are considered to be the body’s way of cleansing and getting rid of impurities.

THE MOST COMMON CAUSES OF EYE DISCHARGES IN DOGS ARE:

• processed food
• vaccination
• mercury build up and oxicity
• milk or grain in food
• head congestion due to excessive pulling on the collar/leash
• ·neck injury
• breed predilection – for example Boxers, Labs, Golden Retrievers, Great Danes and many short nosed breeds.[http://peterdobias.com/blogs/blog/11545009-green-eye-discharge-in-dogs-may-be-a-sign-of]

You can wipe the goobers (copious amount of discharge) out of the eye with your fingers for aesthetics; and, you can help the dog’s natural discharge systems with some basic PetMassage_TM.

Roll the head and neck in your hands to release tightness in the muscles. Bunch the skin of the face so that your dog resembles a bloodhound plush toy and spread it apart. Repeat on the sides and dorsal surface (top, I could have just said top!) of the head. Stimulate the nasolacrimal glands by gently pressing and releasing the skin tissues against the boney orbit of the eye. Here you are working series of Acupressure points: the Bladder 2 on the inner edges of the puffs of eyebrow tissue on the guard hairs, and the (third eye) groove between the eyes.

You can also stimulate the Large Intestine 4 acupoint by pressing and releasing in the webbing of the dewclaw, and the Large Intestine 20, the groove in the middle of the outside of each nostril. [Acupressure, Simple Steps to Health, Jacqueline Young, Thorsons, 1994]

Dogs recognize each others’ eye goobers and help each other clean them away. Our boxers Lola and Camille take turns licking each others eyes. Their ears flatten against the sides of their heads in pleasure as they both enjoy helping and being helped. Now, Camille has begun licking my eyes when she wants me to get up in the morning. Hmm. Perhaps it wasn’t dreamy time sleepy sand after all. Just residue of last night’s kibble.